UC San Diego beefs up cancer offerings in Hillcrest as competition with Scripps grows

John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune

A newly opened cancer treatment and infusion center at UC San Diego's Hillcrest campus will make it easier for patients in the central and south parts of the county to receive care.

A newly opened cancer treatment and infusion center at UC San Diego's Hillcrest campus will make it easier for patients in the central and south parts of the county to receive care. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Recent expansions and more investment on the horizon make it clear that San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood is at the center of a growing competition between two of the region’s best-known oncology programs.

Earlier this month, specialists began treating patients in remodeled space at UC San Diego Medical Center, which tripled the number of infusion chairs available and added a seven-room cancer clinic in space formerly used for neonatology and ophthalmology.

Meanwhile, Scripps Mercy Hospital, located less than a half-mile away, has dramatically increased its oncology staffing in partnership with Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center.

And both organizations plan to build stand-alone cancer centers on their campuses in coming years as part of much larger construction projects that will replace the existing medical towers on both Hillcrest campuses.

As the region’s only National Cancer Institute designee, UC San Diego has traditionally had the broadest access to cancer research among local programs, hosting hundreds of clinical trials which patients often gain access to at Moores Cancer Center in La Jolla. But Scripps’ new collaboration with MD Anderson has changed that dynamic a bit.

In November, Mercy doctors were the first to infuse a patient with Lutathera, a newly-approved drug that can precisely target a radioactive payload on difficult-to-treat gastrointestinal tumors.

Dr. Thomas Buchholz, medical director of the Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, said the new collaboration helped secure access to the drug in November before it was widely available.

“Some of our colleagues back in Houston did the pivotal phase three trial, and we were fortunate to, with our relationship, gain early access to this promising new radiopharmaceutical,” Buchholz said, adding that Scripps plans to administer the drug only at Mercy.

UC San Diego also is moving forward with Lutathera, and will infuse its first patient this month. Like Scripps, it will handle all Lutathera infusions in Hillcrest. Both organizations cited clinical complexity as the main reason why they are having their Hillcrest locations specialize in delivering the drug.

As has been the case in many other areas of health care, proximity to patients is a key factor in both organizations’ decisions to significantly expand their offerings in central San Diego.

Dr. Rebekah White, the surgical oncologist who is leading UC San Diego’s cancer efforts in Hillcrest, said patients have already shown significant interest in being seen farther south even though Moores is just a 14-mile drive away. While it’s possible to cover that distance by car in 20 minutes, traffic, White noted, can push the length of that journey past 40 minutes.

“For some, it’s the longer drive, but for other people, La Jolla feels like a different state, and they are more comfortable here,” White said.

UC San Diego has prided itself in offering comprehensive cancer treatment that follows the latest protocols shown to deliver better results for patients. Dr. Joseph Califano, physician-in-chief of Moores Cancer Center, said that same approach is fully present at the Hillcrest clinic, which is focusing on several subspecialties including colorectal, gastrointestinal, breast and prostate cancers. Many Moores physicians will split time between the La Jolla and Hillcrest facilities.

“If you’re going to do high-end cancer care, you really do need to have specialized teams,” Califano said. “This expansion in Hillcrest really is about making sure that those multidisciplinary teams are distributed and convenient for patients.”

Buchholz, the Scripps director, said that close collaboration with MD Anderson has focused on similar goals.

“It’s these subtle types of things, multidisciplinary coordination in all aspects of care, that really make a difference for cancer patients,” Buchholz said.

Scripps, the executive said, hopes to have a full stand-alone cancer center that duplicates its offerings at its main cancer center in Torrey Pines by 2021. UC San Diego has similar plans for a stand-alone center on its sprawling Hillcrest campus, but has not yet targeted an opening date.

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